In the days that followed, Lin Wu still slung her bamboo basket over her arm and headed for the wharf, selling pastries while asking around for a reliable cargo ship bound for Chunzhou.
One midday, as she was lowering her head to pick up pastries with tongs, she overheard some porters chatting nearby.
"Have you heard? That exile convoy is setting off tomorrow."
"Finally they're leaving. If they linger a few more days, even with the Shen family's mountains of gold and silver, I'm afraid they'll eat us out of house and home!"
"Tsk tsk, that Young Master Shen really grew up in a fairy mansion with no idea what rice costs. Word has it the porridge there is so thick it's almost like white rice, and the doctors they brought in are the very best in the city."
"It's not just consultations either, they even give out herbal decoctions for free. If I wasn't too shy, I'd go beg a bowl of porridge and ask the doctor to check my pulse while I'm at it."
"They're such a wealthy family, even the scraps that slip through their fingers would be enough for a hundred people to live on for ages. By the way, the Zhiyun Trading Company is heading for Nanya too, right? What a coincidence that their paths are crossing now."
"Not really. The Zhiyun Trading Company caravan is leaving two days later, they deliberately staggered the schedule."
"They don't share that much of the route. Before heading south to Lanzhou, the caravan and the exile party do have a stretch of overland road in common. Once they reach Lanzhou, Zhiyun Trading Company will switch to the water route. By the time they've already reached Nanya long ago, that exile convoy will probably still be dragging their feet halfway there."
"Who knows. This is the first time Young Master Shen has taken full charge of a trip all on his own. He might stop at a few extra stations along the way to see the sights, you can't be sure."
"Who cares, it's none of our business anyway."
By now, hearing all this at the wharf no longer fazed Lin Wu. She maintained her usual calm expression as she wrapped a pastry and handed it over, while little Lin Jing sat quietly beside her, smoothing out the edges of the broad leaves in his cloth bag until they were perfectly flat.
Once they had sold all their pastries, the two returned to the inn. No sooner had they stepped over the threshold than the innkeeper poked his head out from behind the counter. "Mrs. Lin, you're finally back! A young fellow came looking for you, said he had something important to discuss. He's been waiting for you in the main hall for quite a while."
Lin Wu looked in the direction the innkeeper was pointing. On the wooden bench against the far wall of the main hall sat a neatly dressed young clerk. He wore a blue-gray linen tunic that looked familiar, and after a second thought, she recognized it as the uniform worn by the Shen family's servants.
She took Lin Jing by the hand and walked over to him. The young servant stood up the moment she drew near, wasting no words as he handed an envelope to her and whispered, "The Young Master told me to give this to you, Madam."
He gave a slight bow, then turned and left the inn in a few quick strides.
Lin Wu froze for a moment, clutching the envelope in her fingers as she led Lin Jing back to their rented room.
After bolting the door shut, she studied the envelope carefully. It was plain and unadorned, the seal tightly pressed down, no name written on it, and it felt thin to the touch. She pried it open gently and pulled out the sheet of letter paper inside.
There were only a few lines of writing on it, the strokes clear, bold and free-flowing, the force of the pen cutting deep into the paper:
"There is a clerk named Ling Shun at the Zhiyun Trading Company's Lingzhou shop. He was a native of Huzhou, lost his parents at a young age and had no surviving relatives. Eight years ago, he traveled north with a merchant caravan and settled here, and passed away this spring. The two of you may pose as his wife and daughter returning to his hometown, and it will be perfectly natural for you to settle down in Chunzhou along the way. The only temporary measure is that the young lady will have to take the surname Ling for the time being.
If you need any help, you can go to the Shen residence to find Steward Zhou. These days I spend most of my time at the porridge shed outside the city, and the steward will lead you to me. If that feels inconvenient, you can simply write down your names, ages and other relevant details and give the note to Steward Zhou.
Additionally, Zhiyun Trading Company is scheduled to depart for the south three days from now."
Lin Wu finished reading the note, and her fingers trembled almost uncontrollably as she held the paper.
But she did not hesitate for long. She put the letter away, got up immediately to buy paper, paid the innkeeper ten copper coins to borrow a brush and inkstone, and hurried back to their room.
Halfway through writing, she looked over at Lin Jing, who was watching her write quietly. The little boy was still dressed in girl's clothing. Once they were settled somewhere safe in the future, she would have to let him change back into little boy's attire. If he kept dressing as a girl for too long, it might muddle his sense of identity as he grew older.
She wrote slowly on the paper: "Son, named Jing, six years old."
She folded the finished note carefully, slipped it back into the original envelope, then took a small headscarf out of her bundle and took Lin Jing's hand. "A Jing, let's go to the Shen residence."
But the moment the words left her mouth, Lin Jing suddenly pulled his small hand out of her palm, stepped back half a pace, and shook his head hard. "I don't want to go there."
Seeing his utterly resistant posture, Lin Wu instantly understood. The earlier conversation she had with him about leaving him in the care of Zhiyun Trading Company for the southern journey had planted deep unease in his heart. Right now, the Shen residence felt like a dangerous lair to him.
Lin Wu squatted down and spoke softly to him. "I'm not sending you off to the Shen family. We aren't going to separate. A Wu just needs to ask the Shen family for a favor. If this favor works out, we'll be able to go to Chunzhou smoothly together, and no one will be left behind."
At those words, Lin Jing lifted his eyes to glance at her hesitantly for a moment, then slowly nodded and reached out his small hand to wrap his fingers around hers again.
When they arrived at the Shen residence and spoke to the gatekeeper, Steward Zhou came hurrying out to meet them only moments later.
Lin Wu did not hand over the envelope right away. Instead, she bowed respectfully. "Steward Zhou, thank you for your trouble. Young Master Shen is so kind and has helped us over and over. We, mother and daughter, are deeply grateful, and we hope we can thank him in person."
"You are too kind, Madam. Please wait a moment." Steward Zhou seemed to have anticipated this, and did not ask any further questions. He turned to give an order, and soon a coachman drove a covered mule cart steadily over to them.
Lin Wu helped Lin Jing wrap his headscarf tightly around him once more as they climbed into the cart.
The mule cart rumbled slowly out of the city, and finally stopped beside a tent set up behind the porridge shed outside the city. Steward Zhou led the two of them inside.
Shen Guanting was sitting at a desk flipping through account books. Hearing the noise, he put the books down, stood up and turned around, his expression as gentle and calm as always. "Mrs. Lin, you are so decisive. You got here faster than I expected."
"Young Master Shen, your great kindness is something we will never forget," Lin Wu said as she took the envelope out from her bosom and handed it to him.
Shen Guanting accepted it calmly, pulled out the note and unfolded it. His gaze paused for a moment when he saw that Lin Jing was a boy, but he did not mention it, just folded the paper back up and slipped it into the envelope as usual.
"Everything is in order. We can get the paperwork sorted out before Zhiyun Trading Company departs. These days the caravan needs to take care of some trivial official documents at the yamen, so we can handle this along with the rest," he said casually, as if he were talking about the most ordinary of matters.
After saying that, he turned his gaze to Lin Jing, who was clinging tightly to Lin Wu's side. He then raised a finger and pointed at the curtain on one side of the tent. "Peek through that slit in the curtain to the northeast, and you'll be able to see the exile party's camp."
Lin Wu froze, and Lin Jing's small hand squeezed her fingers even tighter.
"It's about twenty zhang away, so you won't be able to make out many details," Shen Guanting added.
Lin Wu led Lin Jing over to the window, and gently lifted a corner of the curtain.
Just outside the tent, a group of ragged poor people were resting. Further in the distance, the crowd grew denser, with several mounted guards patrolling around, and several flatbed carts stacked with sacks parked nearby.
The exiles huddled together in small groups, their clothes worn and tattered but still thick enough to keep warm. Every now and then, someone would stand up, carry a wooden bucket over to the nearby river to fetch water, their steps steady. Others kept their heads lowered, chatting softly with the people beside them. The whole scene felt surprisingly peaceful.
Just then, Gu Qing was walking back from the edge of the mountain forest beside the prison camp, carrying a bundle of dry dead branches she had picked up. Her mother Madam Liang was squatting on the ground, tending to a small makeshift stove stacked from a few stones, slowly boiling water in a clay pot. Gu Jue was sitting off to one side. Though his face was still a touch pale, his energy had visibly improved a great deal. He was bowing his head, straightening each dry branch one by one, and plucking out stray grass leaves tangled among them.
"Sister," Gu Jue called out with a bright smile the moment he spotted her coming back.
Gu Qing bent down to set the bundle of dry branches down, then reached out to adjust his slightly askew headscarf, tucking it securely in place as she said softly, "Wear it properly, don't let the wind get to you. You've only just barely recovered your strength."
"The doctor we saw yesterday said that once I finish today's dose of medicine, I'll be fully well. When they hand out the meal later, I'll go over to the Shen family's awning to get another bowl of medicinal soup," he replied warmly, his hands still carefully sorting through the dry branches.
"Take a look at these things mixed in the branches I brought back," Gu Qing said, pointing to a few clumps of wild weeds and dry vines tangled in the bundle.
Gu Qing carefully picked them all out. "When I go to collect the medicinal soup later, I'll ask the doctor to take a look at them too." Over the past few days, once Gu Jue's energy had picked up, he had used the time every day when he went to pick up medicine to learn from the doctor how to identify common medicinal herbs.
These past few days, the Shen family had been providing one full meal a day, so none of them had to start their own fires to cook. The escorting officers were happy for the lazy reprieve, and most of them stayed huddled in their tents to avoid trouble.
The officers' top priority was to make sure none of the prisoners escaped, so they would often yell at the convicts while they were on the march, but they rarely resorted to physical violence. Hitting people took effort, and if they injured or sickened someone badly, it would only slow their journey down and cause extra trouble. A few days earlier, when several people in the group had fallen ill, the officers had glowered at them endlessly, full of impatience.
Now that those sick people were well on their way to recovery, everyone could finally have a bit of peace and quiet.
They still had a very long road ahead of them. It was unlikely they would ever run into another kind family like the Shen family who would offer them a helping hand again. They had to take advantage of this rare opportunity to make whatever practical preparations they could.
When it came to the Shen family, every single person in the procession was deeply grateful. That porridge and free medicine might have been no more than a casual act of kindness for the Shen family, but for them, it was a favor that had quite literally saved their lives. Yet no one dared speak their gratitude out loud, for fear that a careless word would end up bringing unnecessary trouble down on the Shen family instead.
Madam Liang quietly prodded the firewood under the clay pot, though in her heart she could not help but suspect that the Shen family's acts of generosity were hardly just random good deeds. If the old matriarch of their family had still been alive, she might have known exactly what connection lay behind this. But after their old master had passed away, the old matriarch had fallen into a deep melancholy that turned to illness. Before she could recover from that serious sickness, she had been tortured in the prison, and before the procession could even set off, she had breathed her last.
Well, those old stories were nothing but a source of trouble now. As far as the Shen family's actions were concerned, she decided she would act as if she knew nothing at all.
"The few patients who were in the worst shape got treatment in time, and they are still young, so they recovered quickly. Now they can barely walk on their own," Shen Guanting's clear, crisp voice rang out from behind them. He had appeared at some point, carrying a small round stool, which he set down by the window. Then he bent over, slipped both his hands gently under Lin Jing's arms, and lifted him to sit on the stool.
"Here, this will prop you up higher, so you can see everything clearly."
Lin Jing stared out at the scene in the distance, his eyes wide and unblinking as he took in the crowd of people spread out before him.
Lin Wu rubbed the top of his little head, her voice softening to a whisper. "A Jing, look, they're all safe and sound now. The road ahead is still long, but one day they will reach their destination."
She paused for a moment, then continued. "Even a little child as young as you have been able to follow A Wu all the way to Lingzhou, and soon we will go on to Chunzhou. They will definitely be able to finish this journey too."
"Mm," Lin Jing murmured softly in response. He lifted a small hand, wiped his eyes with his sleeve, then shifted to sit properly on the round stool, stretching his legs out so his feet rested firmly on the ground.
Lin Wu took his hand and turned to face Shen Guanting. Her expression was solemn as she gave him a deep, formal bow.
"Young Master Shen, the kindness you have shown us," her voice was clear, every word carrying distinctly in the tent, "we will never be able to repay this debt. A Jing and I will not let your help go to waste. We will make it through the rest of the journey safely."
Lin Jing copied her gesture, tucking his two small fists together and bending low in a deep bow too.
"There is no need for such formality," Shen Guanting said, his tone as calm and even as ever, no strong emotion detectable in his voice. "To tell you the truth, this was never really just a random act of charity on the Shen family's part."
After a moment, the two of them slowly straightened back up.
"I wish Young Master Shen and the Zhiyun Trading Company a safe and smooth journey all the way to Nanya." Before she turned to leave, Lin Wu took one last look at Shen Guanting. He was still standing straight and proper inside the tent, and in the dim light, his quiet, composed bearing seemed all the more striking.
"Young Master Shen, this is where we take our leave." She pulled her gaze away and bid him a formal, solemn farewell.
With that, she took Lin Jing's hand and walked out of the tent. The tent flap swung open to let in the daylight, wrapping their figures in a faint halo of white light.
Shen Guanting stood where he was, watching the door curtain sway gently before it settled back into place, blocking the view of the outside world completely. The tent fell quiet once more.
"We will meet again if fate allows," he whispered under his breath, so softly it was almost impossible to hear. Then he turned and sat down at the desk.
On the day the Zhiyun Trading Company's caravan was set to depart, Lin Wu had finished selling all the sesame cakes she had made. On her way back to the inn, she received an envelope from the quiet, taciturn young servant who worked for the Shen family.
She tucked the envelope carefully into her clothes. Halfway along the path, she suddenly heard a rumbling commotion, and she stopped her steps, turning to look in the direction of the Shen residence.
A long procession of carriages and mounted men was filing out from the main gates of the mansion and the warehouses. The tall trade banners of the Zhiyun Trading Company fluttered high in the air, and the sound of mules' hooves and rolling carriage wheels blended together into a low, continuous rumble that spoke to the sheer size of the grand caravan.
At the very front of the procession were several riders with tall, straight postures. One jet-black horse in particular stood out, its coat glistening like polished silk under the sunlight. On its back sat a tall, slender young man, the golden sunlight spilling over him and softening the edges of his figure.
Lin Wu stood there watching quietly for a long moment, then turned her head away. She held Lin Jing's hand tighter and kept walking toward the inn, moving against the flow of the crowd that had gathered to watch the caravan leave. They headed slowly north, while the Zhiyun Trading Company's procession rolled south.
Back in their small room at the inn, she latched the door shut, sat down at the table, and only then carefully opened the envelope.
There were only three thin sheets of paper inside, but she found her breath growing shallow and slow, her fingers trembling slightly as she moved.
She unfolded the papers one by one.
The first was a slightly yellowed household registration document, its ink a little faded, clearly printed with her name, A Jing's name, their ages, and their native hometown. The second was an official travel permit stamped with the seal of the Lingzhou prefectural government, granting them permission to travel to Huzhou, listing all the prefectures and counties they would pass through along the way. One of the stops was exactly Chunzhou.
The last sheet of paper had only a few lines of writing on it:
"We had little time to arrange everything thoroughly. Since Ling Shun was originally a native of Zecheng County in Huzhou, it is most practical and uncomplicated to make the travel permit out for Huzhou, to avoid any unnecessary obstacles along the way. If you have decided to settle down in Chunzhou instead, you will only need to make a few minor arrangements once you arrive there. If you ever need any assistance, you can present the silver token at the Zhiyun Manor branch in Chunzhou.
Wishing you a safe and unhindered journey."
She spread the three sheets of paper out flat on the table and sat there motionless for a very long time.
The sharp blade that had been hanging over her head for so long had finally been lifted away. For a moment, she felt lightheaded, almost disoriented. A long-lost, almost unfamiliar sense of steady relief rose up in her chest, so strong it made her eyes burn. The weight that had been pressing on her heart for months had finally settled safely on solid ground.
She gently pushed the three sheets of paper in front of Lin Jing, her voice bright with barely contained joy. "A Jing, look. We have our household papers and our official travel permit now."
Lin Jing had no idea what those things were, but seeing the look on Lin Wu's face, he knew they were extremely important, so he nodded vigorously and said, "That's wonderful!"
"Look, these are our names," Lin Wu pointed to the two names written on the paper, "I'm Lin Wu, and from now on, you are Ling Jing."
Lin Jing leaned in closer, staring at the character "Ling" that looked nothing like the character "Lin", his little brows furrowing slightly as he pressed his lips together.
"It's no big deal. It's just fate, since 'Lin' and 'Ling' sound almost the same. A Jing will always be A Jing," Lin Wu patted his back gently, then stood up to take an embroidered pouch out of their bundle. After emptying out the small odds and ends inside, she carefully folded the sheets of paper and tucked them safely away.
Sitting back down on the stool, her mind now much calmer, she quickly started sorting out her plans.
The biggest obstacle on their journey was now gone, so they needed to rearrange their travel plans. Now that they had official, valid travel documents, they no longer had to risk taking unofficial cargo ships that smuggled passengers. They could go straight for regular passenger ships that sailed on official routes. These passenger ships were fast, and most of the route going southeast along the river was downstream. If everything went smoothly, they would arrive in Huzhou in less than a month.
As her plan grew clearer in her head, she turned to Ling Jing and said, "Now that we have these official papers, we can take spacious, steady passenger ships straight to Huzhou. But the large ships heading to Huzhou all set sail from Chunzhou Wharf, so we still have to go to Chunzhou first. We just won't need to stay there as long as we originally planned — we'll just stop for a little while before transferring to the big ship."
Lin Jing looked up at her, listening with a vague, confused look on his face, but that didn't stop him from nodding his little head earnestly as he listened. No matter where A Wu went, he would follow, he didn't care about Chunzhou or Huzhou at all.
Now that their plan was set, they had to get busy preparing right away.
Lin Wu counted the silver taels she had left on hand. Though she had been selling cakes at the wharf these past few days and made a little income, daily meals plus the room cost at the cheap inn had eaten through that money quickly. Adding everything up now, she had less than eighteen taels of silver left, ten taels of which was the pay she got for working that welcome banquet for the Shen family.
Luckily, the ship fare should still be affordable, but if they wanted to settle down somewhere later, that money would be far from enough, so they would have to be very careful with their spending from now on.
They also needed to prepare enough dry rations. Long-distance passenger ships would stop at the shore halfway to resupply, but she had no idea how many stops there would be or how long each one would last. Passengers were definitely not allowed to light stoves or make their own meals on board, first to avoid fire risks, and second because passengers had no firewood or charcoal to use. So they had to stock up on long-lasting dry food in advance. Then there were clothes and socks, herbs for seasickness, something to defend themselves... one thing after another, there were still quite a few items they needed to buy.
"A Jing," she said, pulling her thoughts back and speaking softly, "Tomorrow we'll head to the market town to buy everything we need to prepare. Once everything is ready, we'll set off."
Lin Jing let out a heavy, firm "Mm."
The next day, just as the sky was starting to light up, Lin Wu took Lin Jing's hand and headed out.
First, they bought all the daily necessities like clothes and herbs, then they went to the grain shop to get some white flour and some fried rice. Fried rice was the most common dry ration for long trips in those days — it kept well, and you could eat it dry, or pour hot water over it to make a soft porridge.
They had so many things in their hands that they could not carry them all, so they first turned back to the inn to drop off their purchases, took a short rest, and then went out again. They wandered to the market, cut a slab of pork, and bought some mushrooms, ginger, scallions, and other things.
Back in their guest room, they tidied up a little and had a simple breakfast, then Lin Wu paid the innkeeper for the firewood and water, took all their ingredients to the large shared kitchen at the back of the inn.
She rolled up her sleeves and got busy. First she mixed the flour with water, covered the basin, and let the dough rise. While the dough was resting, she prepared the pork. She chopped the pork into mince, heated oil in the wok, stir-fried it with finely chopped mushrooms, ginger, and scallions until the aroma came out, then poured in soybean paste and added a little water, letting it simmer slowly.
While the meat sauce was cooking, she turned back to the dough, flattened it, rolled it out into a thin sheet, folded the sheet over a few times, and cut it into evenly thin noodles. She gathered the noodles into small palm-sized bundles, placed them in bowls, and steamed them in the steamer. Once the steam dissipated and the noodle cakes had cooled completely, she placed them one by one on the large stove to slowly dry out until they were crispy, then wrapped them carefully in oiled paper. That made her simple version of instant noodles.
After all that busy work, she only made a few packets of dried noodles and three jars of meat sauce that whole day.
Over the next few days, she kept buying more mushrooms, Chinese cabbages, radishes, and other mushrooms and seasonal vegetables, washed them, diced them, and dried them on the big stove to make dried vegetables. She had no idea how long they would keep, but the weather was cold and dry now, so they should last a good while.
By the time all the preparations were done, three days had already passed.
In the small, cramped guest room, Lin Wu laid out all their belongings one by one, checking each item and packing them neatly. Lin Jing stood by her side, occasionally handing her a length of hemp rope, or using his small hands to hold open the mouth of a cloth bag, his round little eyes following her every movement.
Once she had finished organizing all their luggage, she took out the clothes she had bought a few days earlier — this time, they were clothes for a young man, a simple cyan rough cotton tunic and long trousers. She helped Lin Jing change into them, and replaced the ribbon tying his little hair bun with a matching cyan one.
She stepped back half a step to look him over, and before her stood a neat, clever little young man.
"There we go. Our A Jing is a proper little young man again," she said, pinching his little hair bun.
Lin Jing couldn't see, but he raised his hand to touch his little hair bun and nodded.
The next morning, they settled their room bill, checked out, and headed for the wharf with all their bags and bundles on their backs.
The passenger ship was one they had asked about a few days earlier — medium-sized, and looked fairly neat and tidy. After haggling with the shipowner back and forth a few rounds, for one adult and one child, they finally settled on a price of two strings and two hundred copper coins.
The Jin Cheng Trading Company and the Zhi Yun Trading Company had already left, so the wharf was much quieter than usual. When they reached the passenger ship's berth, the government inspection officer was standing by the gangway, checking everyone's documents one by one. When it was their turn, Lin Wu handed over their official travel papers.
The petty officer took the papers, looked them over carefully, then raised his eyes to look the two of them up and down, before waving his hand to let them pass.
Lin Wu felt a huge weight lift off her chest, as if a stone that had been pressing on her for ages had finally been moved away. From now on, they no longer had to make up stories about those documents and live in constant fear. Now they were just ordinary travelers, the same as everyone else coming and going from all over at the wharf.
She held Lin Jing's hand as they stepped across the wobbly gangway and onto the ship's deck.
Looking back, she could see Lingzhou Wharf was still bustling with people, looking almost exactly the same as when they first arrived. In a trance, she remembered the day she came with the Jin Cheng Trading Company, how she met the Shen family here, then the exiled prisoner convoy. Now the Jin Cheng Trading Company had gone back north, and the Zhi Yun Trading Company and the exiled convoy had headed south.
And today, at last, it was her and A Jing's turn to leave this place.
She had never imagined that after fleeing here in a panic from the capital region, they would be the last ones to leave.
"Cast off the lines —!" A loud, clear shout pulled her back to her senses.
The ship swayed gently, the ropes were untied, and the passenger ship slowly turned around and left the shore, sailing forward.
Lingzhou Wharf grew smaller and further away in their field of vision. The road ahead was long and distant. Most likely, they would never see Lingzhou again, or the Jin Cheng Trading Company, the Zhi Yun Trading Company, or that exiled convoy.
Young Master Shen: See you if fate allows [OK]
Mrs. Lin: I never want to see you again [waves her hand dismissively]
